New here: is one device enough to test on? (iPhone 6)

iProdigy

Hello,

Is the simulator enough to test your app functionality on? Or do I need all of the devices that I plan on publishing for?

Currently, I only have the iPhone 6, and do not have the budget for anything else atm.

I would like to publish for iOS and android, but would rather not release buggy crap due to me not having the devices to test it on.

Thanks

Summation

@iProdigy said:
Hello,

Is the simulator enough to test your app on? Or do you need all devices to test on that you plan on publishing for?

Currently, I only have the iPhone 6 and do not have the budget for anything else atm.

I would like to publish for iOS and android, but would rather not release buggy crap due to me not having the devices to test it on.

Thanks

It certainly helps to have a device for that particular platform. For example, one of the main concerns is screen size, and parts of your interface being cut off if the resolution of the platform you publish to is different than the resolution of what you developed in the creator.

However, there are many discussions about universal builds (here's one) and I'm sure you can find something that will help you.

RP

Test on as many devices and versions as possible. That's just how testing is done...but try to get away from anything that Apple considers to be legacy. Testing will have different results on different devices particularly is they are running different OSes.
The simulator is NOT the way to determine successful testing it is a simulator after all. Adhoc builds are the way to go for testing your devices.

UtopianGames

IMO no need to buy lots of devices, I always used to test on the oldest supported device and if i could hit a decent frame rate & load times then i was happy.

Socks

@Summation said:
one of the main concerns is screen size, and parts of your interface being cut off if the resolution of the platform you publish to is different than the resolution of what you developed in the creator.

Just to be clear what you should be concerned about is aspect ratio rather than resolution or screen size.

For example an old iPad1 has only one quarter the number of pixels as the latest iPadAir2 (or 'half' the resolution) but as they have the same aspect ratio (4:3) then projects developed for one will fit the other just fine without any parts of your interface being cut off, even though the resolution of each device is markedly different.

The same is true of screen size, you can develop a project for an iPad and then load it onto the much smaller iPad mini and as they also share the same 4:3 aspect ratio there will be no issues with parts of your game being cut off / cropped.

You could reduce the concern to little more than 'shape', a 16:9 design isn't going to fit into a 4:3 aspect ratio (and vice versa).

iProdigy

Thank you for all the answers!

My main priority is iOS and I already have the iPhone 6. So I am thinking, if I buy a refurbished iPad Air 1, I should be covered with iOS testing.

I am confused as to how developers publish to Android when there are so many devices that you would have to test on.

Socks

@iProdigy said:
My main priority is iOS and I already have the iPhone 6. So I am thinking, if I buy a refurbished iPad Air 1, I should be covered with iOS testing.

With an iPad Air 1 you will only really cover yourself (with regard to your projects viability on the iPad platform) for iPad Air 1 and iPad Air 2 (a game that plays smoothly on an iPad Air can only be guaranteed to play smoothly on an iPad Air and the faster iPad Air 2, So as a proofing device for the iPad platform it's not ideal) . . . . for example - you get a project running really nicely (super smooth, glitch-fee, 60fps) on your iPad Air 1, but what is there to guarantee that the same project will run equally well on a massively less powered iPad 3 ?

You really need to ask yourself what are you willing to support, rather than what - of the more recent devices - you can afford. To me the iPads split into the following:

iPad 1 - underpowered, non-Retina
iPad 2 - underpowered, non-Retina
iPad 3 - Retina, but a slightly less powerful processor than the iPad 2,
iPad 4 - Retina screen, big jump in processor power.
Air - Retina / very Fast
Air 2 - Retina / Faster.

So, if you buy an iPad Air, and you test your games on that device, it will tell you nothing about how your game plays on iPad 4,3,2 or 1, and although I personally make the choice not to support anything before iPad 4 (the first iteration of a fast processor and a Retina Screen), it's worth noting that there are more iPad 2s in the world than any other iPad.

Lovejoy

iPad 2 and iphone 5 are my test devices. As for Android, i don't worry too much about it. I just make the .apk and run in through a simulator, if it looks right, its a go.